Interesting news from Verizon yesterday regarding the announcement of their mobility management solution aimed at the enterprise. I am not sure this is a huge surprise as AT&T and Sprint Nextel have been offering mobile IT services to the enterprise for years. What is surprising is that it took Verizon so long to enter the market.
The explanation is in the segmentation. Large enterprises have not been the sweet spot for Verizon who has chosen to focus more on the consumer market. What I think this announcement signals is that the demand for mobile applications has migrated into the small and medium sized business segment. Smart phones are now everywhere including in the hands of small and medium size firms trying to compete with the big guys. Demand from SMB's must have hit the tipping point presenting a money making opportunity for Verizon. The selling costs associated with small deals has always been a barrier to entering the SMB market and the economics presumably have change enough for Verizon to partake.
What will be interesting is to see who Verizon chooses to partner with for applications management (as of yet they have not announced a partner for this portion of the service). Verizon did have a relationship with Dexterra, who had supported Vodafone's (one Verizon Wireless's parents) enterprise application service. Dexterra has since been sold to Antenna which has been supporting AT&T's enterprise services business. Pyxis Mobile also is tied to AT&T with an exclusivity agreement. Regardless, Verizon will have to build a team with industry expertise to support the business.
